Production
| Episode | Broadcast date | Run time | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Part One" | 30 August 1980 (1980-08-30) | 23:33 | 5.9 |
| "Part Two" | 6 September 1980 (1980-09-06) | 20:45 | 5.0 |
| "Part Three" | 13 September 1980 (1980-09-13) | 21:21 | 5.0 |
| "Part Four" | 20 September 1980 (1980-09-20) | 21:19 | 4.5 |
Working titles for this story included The Argolins and Avalon Writer David Fisher conceived of the Foamasi as a race of organised criminals. "Foamasi" is a near-anagram of "mafioso". The episode was written as a satire of the decline of tourism in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. The alien costume used for the Foamasi was later reused in the 1981 BBC The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the leader of the G'Gugvuntt.
A new TARDIS prop is introduced in this episode which replaces the one used since The Masque of Mandragora. This prop would be used right until the end of the original series' production in 1989. This was also the first story to use the Quantel Paintbox digital image processing system. Filming on the story ran badly over budget. As a result, the director, Lovett Bickford, was never asked back again.
Read more about this topic: The Leisure Hive
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“To expect to increase prices and then to maintain them at a higher level by means of a plan which must of necessity increase production while decreasing consumption is to fly in the face of an economic law as well established as any law of nature.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“In the production of the necessaries of life Nature is ready enough to assist man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The society based on production is only productive, not creative.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)